Zack Cote, a ‘96 forward, is one of more than 350 players in the EHL seeking a college hockey opportunity after this season.
Photo by Joshua Boyd
By Joshua Boyd
Players hop on the ice, skate to the faceoff circle and get ready for another night in the Eastern Hockey League.
College coaches and scouts line the glass – at any one of the 18 league rinks from Burlington, Vt., down to Philadelphia, Pa. The players scoring the goals, or stopping an odd-man break at the blue line or making a huge save may not have been familiar names to these colleges before. At the end of the year, however, it’s likely more than 140 will have committed to their next hockey destinations.
Following the 2014-15 season, the EHL saw 143 total NCAA commitments directly out of the league, with 139 moving on to NCAA Division 2 and 3 colleges. The next closest leagues for commitments to NCAA Division 2 and 3 schools had 63 and 60.
“Since I’ve been here, we haven’t taken a kid who was already committed before playing for us,” said Connecticut Oilers head coach Eric Lind. “We are big on development here.”
The Oilers have one of the league’s four players already committed to a Division 1 college in Alex Wilkinson. Wilkinson is a prime example of an EHL team’s mission accomplished – he is in his third season, making the commitment to the U.S. Military Academy this fall. Fellow North Carolinian Todd Jackson also committed from the Oilers in his third season, to Division 3 Norwich University.
“Based on the college placements, the league is thriving,” said Bill Flanagan, co-owner and head coach of the Northern Cyclones. “That is how a league is measured. Everything else is secondary.”
The Cyclones, who reached the USA Hockey Tier-3 Junior National Championship game last spring, were among the leaders in the EHL for commitments with 11. Two more former
Cyclones committed to Division 1 schools from different leagues.
“For the kids coming in, the coaches are all doing a great job of player development,” Flanagan added. “The kids are coming in with nothing, they’re getting the proper coaching, and developing into college prospects. We have tremendous coaching in our league.”
“The league has done a great job – both the former Atlantic Junior Hockey League and the EHL – of taking athletes from scratch and moving them up the ladder, developing them on and off the ice,” added Mark Kumpel, commissioner of the EHL and a former NHL player.
That off-ice development is a big part of the league – the teams are always interested in finding character players, athletes who are driven to succeed individually, but will also go to the wall for their teammates – and for their community.
These players and the coaches they spend so much time with during the season stay in touch throughout their lives.
“I still talk to a few of my guys from the Walpole Express, and I think that happens across the board,” said Kumpel.
The EHL’s mission is to move players on to college hockey, and with 76 NCAA Division 3 teams (and six Division 2 teams, all in the Northeast-10 Conference), there are more opportunities at that level than at Division 1.
The 60 NCAA Division 1 teams typically commit younger players, discovering prospects as early as Bantam and early Midget years.
Andrew Lee, of the New England Wolves, traveled from Wausau, Wis., to pursue a college hockey career while with the Wolves.
Photo by Joshua Boyd
Of the 36 players committed between Dec. 1-23 to Division 1 hockey teams on the College Hockey Inc. website, only 20 of those were committed for 2016-17.
“I truly believe any place you can go to play hockey and get a good education, whether it’s Division 1, 2 or 3, it’s a positive,” said Kumpel. “The most important thing to finding the right school is a) the school has a curriculum you can excel in and have success in, and B) the school can give you a great college hockey experience.”
Bob Crawford knows a lot about the Eastern Hockey League. He is the coowner of not one, but two, teams in the league – the Hartford Jr. Wolfpack and the Connecticut Nighthawks.
The Junior Wolfpack are a well-established institution in junior hockey, having hundreds of alumni in NCAA hockey, and eight current players in pro hockey around the world.
The Nighthawks are a first-year team in the EHL, but have already made an impact with their historic first-ever college commitment – Jordan Bustard will move on to UMass-Boston.
So, what is Crawford’s secret to success in junior hockey?
“I get the best people available,” said Crawford, a former NHL player with the Hartford Whalers. Fellow former NHL player and co-owner Dan McCarthy is one of these “best people,” as are former minor pro hockey players Chris Cerrella (head coach of the Jr. Wolfpack) and Jeff Tory (head coach of the Nighthawks).
Crawford is also a firm believer in the EHL’s Standards of Operation.
“Beyond what is in the guidebook, we help mentor the coaches and really reinforce what is important – playing highly competitive hockey geared towards getting players into college,” added Crawford. “Sometimes people get caught up in wins and losses, but if you win one year no one remembers. What people will remember around town and around the colleges, is the reputation for moving kids on to college hockey.”
The EHL Standards of Operation are in addition to the USA Hockey rules for junior hockey, according to Kumpel.
“We are somewhere in the 80s in terms of the number of rules we have in how we expect our organizations to conduct their business,” added Kumpel. “The kids who want to come and play are customers, and the colleges are customers, too. We work very hard in customer service across the board. We understand what it means to be a registered and accredited USA Hockey program, and we have our own standards on top of that.”
Crawford added that all 18 teams are on board, working towards the common vision of the EHL being the place to play your way to a college commitment.
“The one nice thing is there’s not an outlier out there. There are all different kinds of offerings within individual leagues,” said Crawford. “The EHL has done a very good job of standardizing the requirements to play in the league. We have great hockey people involved, and the ownership groups are really interested in the mission.”
Flanagan counts himself and the Cyclones in that mission-focused company.
“What [the players and their families] get is proven success, proven numbers and proven college development. No propaganda,” he said.
In a typical week, the Cyclones for example will practice 10 hours a week, including skills sessions. They have a minimum of three hours weekly of off-ice training, as well as a full-time staff available to address any and all concerns.
“Whether it’s on-ice or off-ice issues, personal, social, academic, we’re here for them full-time,” Flanagan added.
Every day, the Philadelphia Little Flyers’ Rocky Russo is on the phone or exchanging e-mails with a college coach or scout.
From top to bottom, the Boston Bandits, Walpole Express and New York Bobcats all provide
players with direct contact with college coaches through the Eastern Hockey League.
Photos by Joshua Boyd
“You’re trying on a daily basis to keep your players’ names fresh in the NCAA coaches’ minds,” said Russo. “There are so many quality players out there. To try to separate your players from everyone else’s, it’s all about communication and presentation of your players. With that in mind, you recruit players for your team who have good grades and will contribute to the community.”
The Little Flyers are one of three EHL teams in Philadelphia, with the Junior Flyers and Revolution also hitting the ice in the City of Brotherly Love. The Revolution feature a former Philadelphia Flyers captain, Keith Primeau, as its head coach.
Towards the northern end of the league’s footprint are the New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs, a program with its own history of hundreds of college advancements and dozens of pro hockey players.
“Our alumni have done a lot of hard work for guys in this program. They go to college hockey teams and are impact players on rosters, they’re not just riding the bus,” said
general manager/head coach Ryan Frew. “We place players into environments where we know they can be successful. It’s easy to make a phone call to a college coach, because they know our name.
“This is a great league for our guys to play in,” he added. “We’re right in the backyard of so many schools. Kids and parents spend a lot of money, and it’s important that we present a product that has value – at the end of the day, the college is the value, getting four more years of hockey in a good, academic environment because of the investment you made here.”
Those colleges know what the players are putting in. Kumpel recently took in a Division 3 college game where he saw 17 former EHL (and former Atlantic Junior League) players taking the ice between the two teams.
“I’ve spent more time with college coaches this season than in the past,” said Kumpel. “Speaking with the coaches, they like our product. They’ve told me there are more scoutable players this year. They’re very enthusiastic about this year’s crop of players.
” He wants to make sure those college coaches get every chance they can to see as many players as possible.
“It might be better if we have more North-South crossover play in the future,” said Kumpel. “When you play those crossover games in a showcase, you’re saving a lot of money on your budget. Getting all the teams under one roof makes it easy for the scouts to see. We are committed to playing more showcases in the future for that purpose.”
The whole league gathered in New Hampshire at Cyclones Arena in October, at the Wolfpack’s and Nighthawks’ home rinks in Connecticut in November, and will again congregate in January at Tri-Town Arena in Hooksett, N.H., home of the Monarchs, between Jan. 16-18.
When all 18 teams are together, college coaches and scouts can see both the wide availability of college-ready talent, as well as the common vision to which each team subscribes.
“The teams are living up to the standards, they are getting out recruiting players,” said Kumpel. They are taking care of the players they have, and are moving them on to colleges.”
- See more at: http://www.usajuniorhockey.com/2016/01/its-all-in-the-numbers-eastern-hockey-league-a-proving-ground-for-all-college-hockey/#sthash.JFZ5OUCb.dpuf
